National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places (National Register) recognizes buildings, historic districts, sites, objects, and structures for their significance in American history, archaeology, architecture, engineering, or culture, and identifies them as worthy of preservation on the National level.

The National Register was enacted by Congress in the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966. The NHPA established a process for nominating resources to the register and provided a system of criteria to use for evaluating significance. The National Register is a program of the U. S. Department of the Interior’s, National Park Service, and is administered at the state level by the Maryland Historical Trust (MHT), the state agency for Historic Preservation.

The National Register includes both individual resources as well as historic districts. National Register Historic Districts are areas that contain a significant concentration, linkage or continuity of sites, structures, or objects that are united historically, archaeology, culturally or aesthetically by plan or physical development.

A National Register designation is largely honorary, and does NOT impose any special regulations on property owners. While owners are not legally restricted from making changes to historic resources listed in the National Register, a number of incentives programs are available to encourage the preservation of these important resources.

Harford County has seventy-nine (79) resources listed in the National Register, including fifteen (15) National Register Historic Districts. Twenty-five (25) National Register listings are also Harford County Historic Landmarks. Click here to view the National Register Listings in Harford County.

** Please note that a majority of National Register listings are private properties and are not open to the public. ***